Left saves budget outrage for GOP

In any other year, liberals would be beside themselves, seething over a Democratic president slashing money for the environment, the middle class and the poorest communities in America.

But this year, President Barack Obama can claim the benefit of an expedient foil: Republicans.

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Progressive activists found a lot to dislike in the president’s proposed budget Monday — from deep cuts to heating assistance for the poor to sharp reductions in funding for Pell Grants, the Environmental Protection Agency, clean water initiatives and community block grants for low-income areas. It pushes austerity at a time when progressives believe government should be pumping more money into the economy.

“The budget proposal from President Obama is right from the Republican plan,” Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) said in a statement. “How can we stop the Republican cuts when the president has one-upped them? As the president, he should be the last line of defense for the most vulnerable Americans, instead of the first one to cut.”

Yet for all the progressive hand-wringing, the outrage was widely tempered by the fact that Republicans — who detailed their budget plan for the current fiscal year only days ago — would, in the view of liberals, inflict much more damage to their cherished priorities.

“It is shocking we have the December giveaways to the wealthy and the February austerity for the poor,” said Robert Borosage, co-director of the liberal Campaign for America’s Future, referring to the December deal that extended the Bush-era tax cuts for high-income families.

The president’s budget “doesn’t reflect the choices progressives would make, but it is a much more sensible set of choices about our future than Republicans would be making,” Borosage added.

The GOP would whack $2.7 billion from the EPA budget, while Obama would slash half that amount, $1.3 billion. The Community Development Block Grant program would take a hit of $350 million under the administration’s plan but more than six times that under the Republican budget. Borosage, a leading voice among progressives, said the contrast was so stark that Democrats would actually rally behind Obama, even though they find many areas of his budget deeply troubling. Obama avoided drastic changes to Social Security, proposed major investments in education and infrastructure projects and called for cuts to subsidies for oil and coal companies.

But that doesn’t mean liberals are preparing to fold anytime soon, promising to fight the president on his cuts to home-heating assistance, Pell Grants for students who attend summer school, community block grants and the environment.

“Rebuilding our economy on the backs of the most vulnerable Americans is something that I simply cannot accept,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. “We need presidential leadership to stand up to these cuts and instead propose a jobs program that will end unemployment once and for all. Instead of cutting vital programs for the neediest, which will literally leave poor people in the cold, we should be focusing on ending unemployment.”

The budget sets up a convenient political frame for Obama as he embarks on his reelection campaign, between ax-wielding Republicans and liberals who support greater government spending. As long as progressives cry foul, Obama will appear centrist by contrast, boosting his standing with independents, a key constituency he must win back after the partisan battles of the past two years.